Wynn Resorts Ltd.
WYNN 0.32%
executives turned a blind eye as
Steve Wynn
over more than a decade was accused of sexually assaulting or harassing cocktail servers, salon workers and flight attendants employed by his casino empire, according to allegations contained in a regulator’s report that the company agreed largely matches its own findings.

The report, known as a complaint and released in tandem Monday with a proposed settlement between Wynn Resorts and the Nevada Gaming Control Board, was prompted by an investigation in The Wall Street Journal last year that described sexual misconduct allegations against Mr. Wynn. Those included that in 2005 he had paid a settlement of $7.5 million to a former manicurist who accused him of forcing her to have sex with him.

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In its complaint, the Gaming Control Board said the woman told multiple people at a Wynn casino that she had been “raped” and impregnated by Mr. Wynn.

The report marks the first formal admission by the company of the lack of response by high-level executives to the allegations against Mr. Wynn, as well as the first regulatory action against Wynn Resorts related to the scandal.

The complaint was based on taped interviews conducted by investigators, according to a person familiar with the matter. It added new detail to the stark picture depicted in the Journal’s articles, which documented the allegations against Mr. Wynn in addition to the corporate culture that current and former employers said enabled the behavior.

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Angela Saxton, a former spa attendant ​at ​T​he Mirage in​ Las Vegas​,​ said an executive warned her against complaining about an alleged sexual assault by Steve Wynn. Photo: Bridget Bennett for The Wall Street Journal (Originally published March 29, 2018)

The Nevada regulators found a number of additional examples and confirmed the extent to which other executives were allegedly made aware of Mr. Wynn’s alleged behavior—but chose to look the other way rather than initiate investigations.

The complaint said Mr. Wynn in 2006 also paid a former cocktail server a $975,000 settlement after she said he “pressured her into a nonconsensual sexual relationship” with him. The existence of the December 2006 settlement, but not the amount, was previously reported by the Journal.

In the proposed settlement with regulators, Wynn Resorts agreed to pay any fine while the board said it wouldn’t seek to limit or revoke any of the company’s licenses to operate its Las Vegas casinos. The amount of any fine will be determined later by the Nevada Gaming Commission, which oversees the Gaming Control Board and which also will consider whether to approve or deny the settlement.

Mr. Wynn has previously said that the idea that he ever assaulted a woman was preposterous. His attorney didn’t respond to a request for comment on Monday. Mr. Wynn stepped down as chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts in February 2018 and sold all of his shares in the company shortly thereafter.

In agreeing to the proposed settlement, Wynn Resorts said its executives “fell short of their culture and commitment in perhaps one of the most important areas for an employer—focusing on its employees,” according to a statement in the proposed settlement.

“We have undergone an extensive self-examination over the last 12 months, intended to reinvigorate and implement meaningful change across all levels of the organization, cultivate a safe, healthy and supportive workplace culture, and build on our core values of respecting our employees, corporate responsibility and citizenship, and service to the community,” Wynn Resorts said in a separate statement.

Mr. Wynn was one of the architects of modern Las Vegas. His resignation last year was a seismic event for the industry. Since then, however, Wynn Resorts has successfully continued to operate two casinos in Las Vegas, as well as casinos in Macau under a new CEO who was long one of Mr. Wynn’s top lieutenants. It has also continued construction of a new casino in Massachusetts.

Those named in the complaint as ignoring employee concerns included former president and chief operating officer Marc Schorr; former vice president of hotel operations Doreen Whennen; and former human resources director Arte Nathan, who had left the company by the time allegations were made public last year by the Journal.

Four other employees were named in the complaint as allegedly ignoring complaints. Former general counsels of the Las Vegas operation Stacie Michaels and Kevin Tourek, along with former Wynn Resorts general counsel Kim Sinatra and former Las Vegas president Maurice Wooden, all left after the Journal articles, according to the company. Another employee not named in the complaint, a former salon executive, also departed.

The company said that no employee mentioned in the regulator’s report remains with the company who was aware of the allegations against Mr. Wynn before the Journal’s articles were published.

“Ms. Sinatra denies the allegations against her in the complaint. She maintains she conducted herself appropriately at all times,” said James Kramer, a partner at the law firm Orrick who represents her.

Massachusetts gambling regulators also have completed a yearlong investigation of the company, but have been delayed releasing their report because Mr. Wynn is suing the regulators, accusing them of using information protected by attorney-client privilege. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has said in legal filings that it doesn’t believe the information is protected. The case is tied up in Nevada courts.

Nevada regulators didn’t use the information in dispute in drawing up its report, a person familiar with the matter said.

Among the Nevada board’s allegations not previously detailed by the Journal was that a former cocktail waitress and flight attendant had in 2014 accused Mr. Wynn of sexual misconduct that she said took place nearly a decade earlier. Mr. Tourek and Mr. Wooden were aware of the allegations and didn’t investigate them, the regulators said. The company said it had no knowledge that Mr. Tourek or Mr. Wooden knew about those allegations.

The regulators also reported that at least three massage therapists had claimed Mr. Wynn sexually harassed them in 2014 and that several managers and executives were aware of the allegations but didn’t follow procedures to have them investigated. They also reported that a flight attendant for Mr. Wynn wrote an email in 2016 to Mr. Wynn accusing him of engaging in sexual harassment with multiple flight attendants. Mr. Wynn’s personal assistant forwarded the email to Ms. Sinatra and Ms. Michaels, but they didn’t report them or have an investigation conducted, according to the complaint.

The company says it had no knowledge whether Ms. Sinatra or Ms. Michaels knew about the flight attendant’s allegations.

Another allegation laid out by regulators in the complaint involved an employee who allegedly facilitated sexual relationships between cocktail servers and Mr. Wynn or his guests. Mr. Nathan was aware of such rumors but didn’t act on them, according to the complaint.